Everything the Instructors Never Told You About Mogul Skiing

Introduction

     Why are so many fit, expert skiers baffled by the moguls? And why is useful mogul-skiing advice so hard to find?

     Most skiers don’t realize that mogul skiing requires a special set of techniques that have nothing to do with groomed-trail skiing. Most skiers try to simply carry their groomed-trail techniques into the moguls. With no knowledge of mogul techniques, these skiers are bound to struggle in the bumps.

     Outside of competitive mogul-skiing circles (competitors, former competitors, coaches, judges, devotees, etc.) mogul techniques remain largely unknown and unaddressed. Most ski instructors teach only groomed-trail techniques (techniques derived from alpine racing) and aren’t even familiar with the special techniques used by mogul skiers. Yes, most ski schools do offer mogul-skiing lessons, but many of these lessons are ineffective, because they encourage students to use only groomed-trail techniques. From such a lesson, a student can hope to learn no more than a meandering, wide-stance style of skiing that will vastly limit her mogul-skiing potential. Such lessons are more about mogul survival than mogul skiing.

     Most of the written mogul-skiing advice one finds in magazines and books, and on Web pages, is just as inadequate as the average on-snow mogul lesson. Most of this advice is produced by ski-instruction writers who, like their on-snow counterparts, don’t know mogul technique. And in the rare instances where good mogul skiers have authored a bit of authentic advice, that advice has been so small a snippet of the whole picture that it has left its readers with only more questions.

     With little to no knowledge of mogul technique, many would-be bump enthusiasts have simply thrown up their hands and surrendered. After repeated failures in the bumps, these otherwise capable skiers have told themselves that mogul skiing must lie beyond the reach of the average expert skier, that it must be for daredevils only. And this daredevil myth has grown and pushed the downhill skiing masses even further from the pleasures and thrills of mogul skiing.

     Skiing moguls is not about daredevilry. It’s not about taking unreasonable chances. It’s not about closing your eyes, hoping for the best, and just going for it. Skiing moguls well is about physical fitness, practice and proper technique. With the right technique, most fit, expert skiers can become good mogul skiers. And some can become great mogul skiers, and even great competitors.

     Under the guidance of freestyle team coaches, children all over the country are learning mogul techniques and skiing moguls well. I’ve successfully taught mogul techniques to skiers as young as 11 and as old as 60. I know, from my own teaching experiences, that most fit, expert skiers who want to ski bumps can learn to ski bumps.

     Whether you want to ski gentle moguls with comfort and confidence, turn heads on your local mogul run, or compete in mogul contests, this book will give you the specialized knowledge you need to reach your goal. If you practice the techniques I describe in this book, you’ll gradually gain more and more comfort, confidence and ability in the bumps. You won’t need to take any huge, dangerous leaps. You won’t need to take big chances with your physical safety. You’ll just steadily get better, as you would were you practicing tennis or golf or any other sport. With practice, you’ll be doing things in the moguls that you once thought you could never do.

     All of the techniques I describe in this book are vital to good mogul skiing. They are techniques that have proven their worth in the demanding, put-up-or-shut-up realm of competitive bump skiing. They are techniques that work well in the bumps, whether you ski bumps at five miles-per-hour or 30 miles-per-hour. They are the techniques you must add to your groomed-trail skills, if you’re going to become a mogul skier or a true all-mountain skier. They are techniques that produce a style of downhill skiing that is appreciably different from the skiing styles of most instructors and racers. And they are techniques of which a surprisingly large number of instructors, ski-instruction writers and racers are remarkably unaware.

-Dan DiPiro